Connecting Experiences with Heterosexism and Sexual Behavior in a Sample of Ethnically Diverse Sexual Minority Men

This study examined associations between heterosexist experiences and sexual behaviors in sexual minority men (SMM).Ethnically diverse cis-gender SMM completed a national online survey assessing experiences with heterosexism and various sexual behaviors they had engaged in over the past year.High reported rates of a number of sexual behaviors over the past 6 months emerged: left social event with someone (46.1%), sexual behavior with an acquaintance (63%), regretted sexual encounter (55%), fellatio without a condom (80.9%), anal sex without a condom (62.9%), analingus without protection (57.3%), sex with uncommitted partners (61.8%), sex under the influence of substances (60.7%), and sex before discussing risk factors (53.9%).A canonical correlation found that experiences with heterosexism and sexual behaviors had 25% overlapping variance.The standardized canonical coefficients suggested that SMM who have experienced high levels of work/school and other discrimination report a larger intent to engage in sexual acts.Multiple regressions showed that harassment/rejection, work/school, and other heterosexism significantly explained 19.5% of the variance in intent to engage in sexual acts and 12.2% of the variance in impulsive sexual acts, with work/school heterosexism being a unique predictor of the intent to engage in sexual acts.Experiences with heterosexist discrimination were robustly associated with sexual behavior, suggesting that some SMM may use sexual behavior as a method of coping with discrimination.Interventions that help SMM become aware of this possible link in their own life and identify more effective coping strategies may be particularly valuable.